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Part 2

Collaborations can take on many forms. What role do they play in your approach and what are your preferred ways of engaging with other creatives through, for example, file sharing, jamming or just talking about ideas?

I have done very few collaborations, even fewer that have seen the light of day. I just don’t feel comfortable sitting next to someone in a studio and writing. Writing music is a very personal thing to do and you can feel very exposed. I even have a hard time writing with my friends or girlfriend around. The few times I have worked with someone next to me has felt very limiting so I don’t do that too often.

When I worked together with Cristoph, the idea came together through us messaging each other on Twitter and sending a couple of projects back and forth and it worked out great. In a way it was very similar to remixing someone's work.

Could you take us through a day in your life, from a possible morning routine through to your work? Do you have a fixed schedule? How do music and other aspects of your life feedback into each other - do you separate them or instead try to make them blend seamlessly?

I really don’t have a fixed schedule that I follow, but I try to work during business hours and get up at a reasonable time in the morning when I’m not on the road. I’m lucky to have my studio in my apartment, so I don’t need to travel anywhere to get started. Later on, in the future, I think I’ll want a space someplace else though. The neighbours must really hate me.

I guess the only real routine that I do every day is walk my dog, except that I like to keep things open. If I want to catch a movie in the middle of the day I want to be able to do that and not be tied to a schedule. Since I’m away on a lot of weekends catching up with my friends down the pub and having dinner with my family is important to me. It re-energises me a lot.

Could you describe your creative process on the basis of a piece or album that's particularly dear to you, please? Where did the ideas come from, how were they transformed in your mind, what did you start with and how do you refine these beginnings into the finished work of art?

The creative process isn't so much different from track to track, to be honest. I write down a rough sketch or idea and try to finish it whenever I feel inspired. Ideas can come from anywhere and it’s always hard to pinpoint where it comes from exactly. I like movies, photography and video games so I probably get a lot from these creative areas. Seeing new places when I tour too.

There are many descriptions of the ideal state of mind for being creative. What is it like for you? What supports this ideal state of mind and what are distractions? Are there strategies to enter into this state more easily?

I’ve discovered that I have a really hard time forcing music, so whenever I get the occasional writers block I just drop everything and start to do something else. Listening to music is good and most of the times for me that’s not electronic. Having a peace of mind will help but it’s not always the easiest state to reach. I think a good night's sleep and a break every now and then is key.

How is playing live and writing music in the studio connected? What do you achieve and draw from each experience personally? How do you see the relationship between improvisation and composition in this regard?

The one doesn’t come without the other. 90% of the time I make music with the dance floor in mind. It was quite fun in the beginning since I never played out so I had the mind set of a club-goer as to what I would like to hear. Nowadays I play many shows and have learned how to build sets. It’s a bit different but I always try to think what would I like to hear if I was on the floor looking up on myself.

How do you see the relationship between the 'sound' aspects of music and the 'composition' aspects? How do you work with sound and timbre to meet certain production ideas and in which way can certain sounds already take on compositional qualities?

Sound design has always intrigued me and the way some people manipulate sounds has been inspiring to me from the start. I love to work on atmospheric FX and melodic fills. An arranged track won't feel done until it has those details that make long electronic tracks special. A loop does quickly get boring and repetitive to me.

Our sense of hearing shares intriguing connections to other senses. From your experience, what are some of the most inspiring overlaps between different senses - and what do they tell us about the way our senses work? What happens to sound at its outermost borders?

It’s definitely the combination of sounds and visuals. A movie without music just isn’t the same. Just look at ’Psycho’, ’Jaws’ and ’Star Wars’. The list goes on. Obviously there are some exceptions where music is killing the vibe, but overall it adds something crucial to the art as a whole.

Art can be a purpose in its own right, but it can also directly feed back into everyday life, take on a social and political role and lead to more engagement. Can you describe your approach to art and being an artist?

Every genre has an underlying political agenda root somewhere. With dance music I would say it very much revolves around equality. Equality and acceptance of races, sexual orientations and religious beliefs.

Interestingly enough, I think there’s a certain sense of elitism in certain scenes within electronic music, which is kind of funny because it contradicts the ethos of the culture.

It is remarkable, in a way, that we have arrived in the 21st century with the basic concept of music still intact. Do you have a vision of music, an idea of what music could be beyond its current form?

Impossible to tell what music is going to be like in the future. I don’t think anyone 15 years ago could have predicted what music would sound like today. You can only guess, and that what’s so beautiful about music. It’s a dynamic phenomenon and never stops changing.

I think that music and art go very well together, so that might be something that will take more shape in the future. In a way it already does with music videos, I guess.


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